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Longtime Syracuse radio call-in show canceled suddenly

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Terry Ettinger is seen at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry greenhouses in this 2011 file photo. On Saturday, Ettinger said goodbye to listeners of his longtime radio call-in show.
(Gloria Wright / The Post-Standard)

It was a great ride. Never in a million years could I imagine having a radio show.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Terry Ettinger, the longtime host of 570 WSYR radio show "The Weeder's Digest" said goodbye to his listeners for the last time Saturday morning before signing off.

Ettinger was notified Thursday by the station's program director that the radio call-in program was being canceled after more than two decades. Ettinger said he was told the station was going in a different direction.

"I've sort of been expecting this for a couple years," Ettinger said Saturday after his final show. "All media is struggling to find their way. I understand it's a business. You have to make a profit."

Every Saturday morning, Ettinger fielded questions from loyal listeners about everything from lawns, landscaping and trees, to vegetable gardens, houseplants and flowers. Over the years, the show developed a following of listeners. For Ettinger, a lifelong horticulturalist, the experience of becoming a radio show host was surreal.

"It was a great ride," he said. "Never in a million years could I imagine having a radio show."

Ettinger's parents nurtured his interest in plants at a young age, always keeping a vegetable garden and growing flowers. He also spent time growing up on his grandparents' farm in northern Illinois

He studied plant and soil science at Southern Illinois University, earning a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in horticulture. He also studied landscape architecture at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

In May 1988 WSYR radio host Joe Galuski asked Ettinger -- who was working for Cornell Cooperative Extension as a regional horticulture specialist at the time -- to come on the radio and answer a few call-in questions about lawn care.

The segment went so well that Galuski invited him back.

"And that was the beginning," he said.

With an encyclopedic knowledge of horticulture, Ettinger was soon answering between 10 and 20 calls each week during his two-hour show. He often answered the same question more than once for listeners and when he was uncertain, he'd research the subject.

In more than 20 years, Ettinger said he rarely missed a show and never once received a prank phone call.

Over the years, Ettinger hosted several horticulture segments on television and also wrote a column for The Post-Standard.

Though he was paid to do the show, Ettinger said it represented a small portion of his income. The program was more valuable for exposure when he ran a horticulture consulting business years ago, he said. Ettinger now works for SUNY ESF.

"The loss is more emotional that financial," he said.

Ettinger will continue to host a segment called "Garden Journeys" for Time Warner Cable News. "Garden Journeys" can be seen throughout Central New York as well as western Massachusetts, Connecticut and northern Pennsylvania. He also hosts another feature for Time Warner Cable News called "Going Green," which is in collaboration with SUNY ESF.

Ettinger said he will miss the teaching moments he often shared with callers the most.

Though his father was his junior high school principal and many family members were teachers, he said he never pictured himself as an educator.

"I always swore I'd never be a teacher," he said. "But I kind of became that."